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It feels like a long time since I've done a weather related website report this year, especially as the recent comet and geomagnetic storms have been getting all the attention, and rightly so. The truth of the matter is we just hadn't had any interesting photogenic weather in N. Ireland for quite a long time. In fact, during October we experienced our worst weather of the entire year in the form of anti-cyclonic gloom which is among the worst patterns anyone could get. To me it felt like nearly three weeks of misery with drab grey skies and low stratus every single day and night mixed with regular outbreaks of drizzle. It was absolutely horrible and I hated every minute of it, no sunshine at all, no clear nights, damp air and nothing to see, I was coming to the conclusion that this could be it for the remainder of the year, the latter half of 2024 going out as a slow burn then fading to a dull ember.
I had been so focused on astronomical subjects that I was starting to feel a shift in my mind set, I craved weather action again, it felt like nature needed to balance herself out, and eventually she did. By early November the gloom began to break, we still had stagnant high pressure however clear skies had returned and so did glimpses of sunshine, it actually felt odd to see blue skies with that bright yellow ball, emotionally it was like emerging from a tunnel of light after a near death experience. Despite the sunshine dew points were high and soon the Met Office had yellow warnings out for fog and it was this which had my attention, any self respecting weather photographer knows that fog can be a great photo opportunity, especially if it's the correct kind and you know what to do look for. It adds mood to landscapes, can help with disk shots of a setting sun, can generate a glory, fogbows and lunar fogbows, if you have a drone then getting above fog inversions is an experience like no other and it was this latter photo opportunity which I was after. November 5th looked to have good potential with models showing fog over the Lough Neagh basin then moving over the Tyrone area.
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I woke up to dense fog everywhere so I was happy with that, I knew it wouldn't disappear anytime soon, the sun isn't that strong in November so it wouldn't burn away fast and there was no wind to blow it through. I worked on some personal stuff during the early morning then by 10.30am I headed out for a look. My goal was to get above the fog however I needed something else, something to add to it, a foreground element, the tallest structure in the local area, aside from Slieve Gallion, was the chimney stack on the famous cement factory outside Cookstown, if the fog was the correct height then that could work.
I drove into the countryside where I could see pockets of clear skies then got the drone above for a look. At first on camera was a grey wall, but then as the drone ascended it became transparent, then eventually the drone emerged into a beautiful world of blue skies and sunshine hidden from view below. This was the view as the drone climbed above that layer, looking across the fog inversion at the cement factory and the white blade from a single wind turbine. I did some filming, spotted a corona, then moved the drone around to face the sun.
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It was a cool moment, the factory smoke back-lit by the sun casting it's smoke plume shadow onto the fog inversion, man verses nature, it almost looked like the factory was producing the fog. I burned through two batteries here and had a great time and when I landed I felt that buzz again after a fun weather shoot, ok it was only fog, but after three weeks of mizzle and cloud it may as well have been a tornado.
At this time of year my mind begins to ponder Winter scenes, technically this is still late Autumn, however I thought how on other years I experienced decent snow scenes during this month, this was something I was really craving and with Christmas not far away on the horizon I thought how nice it would be to get something more seasonal, more festive, I would even take a heavy frost, anything. It was then that an amazing shift in the models happened, they began showing a cold spell coming for much of UK and Ireland after the middle of the month, could this actually be happening? at first I was skeptical as anything long range would likely change, however it kept showing on various models day after day and wouldn't go away, it was then I had a feeling that this might actually work out. A week out and day by day, hour by hour, the anticipation began to build and with it the realization that I was going to see some kind of snow soon.
November 11th looked to be my first snow chase of the season, however it really was on a knife edge and at times it almost seemed a little desperate and I very nearly didn't even go out at all as it looked so lame, but sometimes its all about perspective and managing expectations. We had Arctic air engaging an evening frontal system, so this was a frontal snow event, the plan was to let the front drop hours of snow, then it would clear around 22.00, clearing skies and temps of -4C all through the night would keep the snow on the hills, then head out at sunrise for the glory shots, the models seemed to support this plan. There was one major problem, the GFS showed very light precip on the northern edge of the front, especially over the Sperrins where I needed it, in fact, it was more like light rain or heavy drizzle (snow versions) so I was deeply worried this would be a complete let down, there would be no further snow showers the next day so all hopes were on this front putting down enough snow.
An evening was spent radar watching, it snowed for hours but it was very light and the roads via the cams still looked black and wet, there was nothing at low levels at all and it didn't look like enough to go out. I was seriously considering calling off the chase, but I would decide in the morning time, I would get up early anyway and make a final decision then. Morning arrived, I looked outside and was shocked to see 100% cloud cover, no light, no frost, there was nothing in Cookstown, I was expecting -4C temps and ice, but instead it was cloud and almost mild, what a disaster, surely the overnight cloud would have stopped any freezing, could the little snow which did fall have thawed? I had no way of knowing unless I went out and looked, I came so close to going back inside and forgetting about the whole thing until I changed my mental approach.
I shifted to a more positive mind set, my thinking was this, keep the expectations low and don't expect anything so you won't be disappointed. Also if there was some snow, even a dusting, then this was technically the first snow of the season, that had to be experienced no matter what, I love the snow and always make an effort every year to see the first flakes, this is what I do so why change it. The final reason gave me extra motivation, if you read my comet report you will know that I have been working with the BBC for a new four part TV series called 'Chronicles Of The Sperrins', this show features many other people too, I just play a part in it. The idea was that the crew follow me around all four seasons documenting the skies in the Sperrins which is exactly what we had been doing. Spring was the G5 aurora, Summer was the epic NLCs, Autumn was comet C/2023 A3 T-A and our plans for Winter was snow.
The problem was the chances of getting snow in November or December on any given year is actually low as we tend to get our best snow storms from January to March so I was worried it wouldn't work out and I would have to come up with a back up plan. Yet now by some miracle we were getting an early season cold spell with snow potential, not a lot, however there was a chance of something, I knew I couldn't pass this up! I had explained to the producer Veronica about my concerns about the weak precip and slim chances of seeing much of interest, but on the contrary Veronica was very positive and supportive. In her view as a film maker it didn't matter how much snow there was, any would work, even a frost, as long as it was Winter related, after all, we can only document what nature gives us. This made me feel much more at ease, I was informed that several of the cameramen would be out that day in the Sperrins looking for ice and frost and any dusting of snow, I let Veronica know I was hitting the Moneyneany area and she passed that on to the crew, perhaps we would all meet.
At 07.30 I packed the van, Rhua jumped in beside me and we hit the road. I knew I would be getting no light today based on sat imagery so I decided I would just be happy to see anything at all. I saw Slieve Gallion covered in snow as I drove, it was patchy but still decent and this filled me with hope, I knew Moneyneany would produce, it always does. My first subject was the famous Eagle Rock near Mullaghmore, this area always looks good in snow with it's steep slope and dramatic cliff face, I felt confident it would produce.
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I pulled into a car park with line of sight to Eagle Rock, it was still semi dark outside, I could see snow on the summit and it was MUCH better than I had expected, I felt relief and a tremendous surge of excitement. As a snow lover it never ceases to amaze me when I glimpse my first snow on the mountains, it's indescribable, there's just something magical about it, something pure, beautiful, transient, a special rare moment in time waiting to be captured on camera, I love it. When I saw the snow on this mountain my senses stirred, my instincts became focused, all my other senses shut down, I was going entirely visual and emotional, I never even felt the cold anymore.
I couldn't wait any longer, I wanted to fly, I took off at 08.10, sunrise, however there would be no sunrise today, the sky was dark and overcast and that wasn't going to change, I sent the drone forward on a mission to ascend Mullaghmore, I flew over a forest dusted in snow, then emerged over the fresh snow blanket and in the eerie dawn light it was wonderful. I recorded video sequences then stopped for still images, it doesn't get any more fresh than this, pristine untouched snow at first light, I was in my element.
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Flying across the snow towards the summit in the distance, that small group of trees is known as 'Molloy's Acre' and apparently was planted as a test many years ago, from an distance this group of trees is very distinct and can be seen from many miles away. This is why I love living near the Sperrins, snow is actually not a common phenomena in this country in recent years, there are only a few snow days which deliver each Winter and even fewer of these lay on low ground so the best chances of seeing any snow are in the mountains, so if you love snow get to high ground.
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The summit of Mullaghmore, the cold had shortened the life of my battery so I began to fly back earlier than usual, this time backwards so I could enjoy the snow as the drone came back to its take off point. The drone landed and I felt a great sense of satisfaction, I had experienced my first snow of the season and had got footage and it was only 08.30 in the morning, success.
I knew that Nigel McFarland and Colleen Webb where also in the area filming snow with their drones, but I didn't know where exactly, so I decided to take a drive along the famous Birren Road onto higher ground, the temp was -1c and soon I was surrounded by snow everywhere in all directions, it was absolutely fantastic, I spotted Colleen's car then pulled over for a chat. She was loving it too, she had actually got up early and drove here to get images before going into work, that was dedicated, she also had Christmas songs playing in the car which was really fitting. Rhua was loving it, the last time she experienced snow was in January, now she was rolling about in it like a crazy dog. Nigel was over at the Moneyneany area filming there, between the three of us we had the area well covered.
I was saying to Colleen it was a pity the camera crew weren't here to see this, they would love this for their content, they could be anywhere this morning, suddenly a 4x4 came into view and pulled over, amazingly it was cameraman Matt from Chronicles Of The Sperrins and Ronald who is an Ulster wild life cameraman, I couldn't believe it. None of us had planned to meet, we just bumped into one another by chance, it was meant to be, now we could tick a few things off the list for the show. We re-located to Moneyneany, Matt asked me to stand in a specific spot framed with the snow-covered Mullaghmore behind me, then me holding my DSLR while answering questions. At this point the wind had picked up with a nasty wind chill and we were all freezing, Matt and I struggled to work the controls on our cameras.
I answered the questions as best I could but due to the cold I have no idea what I said, if I said it well, or if it made any sense, I just reacted and hoped for the best. I do recall being asked why I call snow the 'White Gold' and why I'm so interested in snow. I spoke about how it was my Dad who would always take us outside when it snowed when we were young, we were encouraged to play in the snow, make snowmen, go for hikes in the snow, then in later years to get the cameras out to document the snow. Due to years of this conditioning it has become natural instinct for me to go snow chasing, it's in my DNA, I feel a magnetic attraction when the white flakes begin to fall and sense it's my duty to go out and get it all on camera, this has always stayed with me and it always will. The filming was completed, I was delighted to meet the guys, who would be spending the entire day filming, then I headed home at midday content. I knew there would be more snow showers overnight and that I would be back out again the following day.
Day two of the cold spell and this day looked extra exciting. We still had snow laying on the hills and overnight we had quite a lot of strong snow showers falling over the Sperrins. With -40c cloud tops and 40 knots shear convection was expected with a risk of thunderstorms and thundersnow, especially along coastal regions. During the evening of the 11th a big thunderstorm impacted Co. Donegal with plenty of c-g lightning which knocked out power supplies, some of the c-gs were positive bolts in the house shaker category, as these storms moved inland they turned to thundersnow. Then at 05.00 on the morning of the 12th another thundersnow storm affected Derry/Londonderry.
I was excited about this day, 100 j/kg of CAPE was expected even inland over my target area and models indicated a day of sunny spells and blue skies with temps as low as -4c again. I was fully expecting a very photogenic day with sunlit snow, clear air Cbs, anvils, mammatus, all over snow, the kind of Winter majesty I love. My goal was to get one nice cell or footage of dramatic snow curtains, either of which would make my day. I woke that morning to be greeted by overcast grey skies once again and sat imagery promised me there would be no light again for the second day in a row. This was disappointing but at least the snow was still there so at 09.00 Rhua and I hit the road.
My intention was to drive up Glenshane Pass and meet Nigel and see what the day brought, however I never made it that far. There was an accident at the bottom of the Pass and massive traffic jams, I had no patience and ended up avoiding Glenshane. I drove to Swatragh then Garvagh to look for cells and snow curtains but all I saw was grey cloudy skies and just a dusting of snow. I knew I needed to get back into the hills or this day would be wasted so I turned tail and went back to the Sperrins and drove up the back road to the wind turbines on Slieve Gallion. This was a dodgy drive, on very high ground, the snow was fairly deep and the road was narrow with hills and troughs but the thrill of driving and trying to stay on the road was hard to deny. The view was fantastic here despite the grey skies, I ended up just flying the drone over the snow along the narrow road and between trees and hedges and around sheep grazing in the fields, the views reminded me of those seen on traditional Christmas cards, at least it was something different from the first day, you can watch these clips in the first video below.
The cold was starting to get to me after the last two days standing in snow, I needed warmed up so I drove into Draperstown and bought a chicken curry with chip from a hot food counter, not something I would do very often, but I have to say after being in the cold for so long this was like manna from Heaven. I felt warned and energized, now where to go?, I decided to go back to the Moneyneany area once again and visit Eagle Rock one more time, I knew it wouldn't let me down.
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I ended up having a really good flight and to make it different from the first day I flew very low over the hills, through valleys, and along the fences which crisscrossed the mountain, an imaginary hike across the snowy landscape, it felt like a scene from 'The Snowman', walking in the air. I then landed the drone and called it a day as the light wasn't going to improve. I still wasn't for giving up though as tomorrow looked alot more promising for photo opportunities.
This day had much more promise with clear skies and good periods of sunshine in the forecast, this time a NWly flow with plenty of snow showers expected to drift down over the Sperrins, especially in the morning and afternoon. CAPE was still present, more so near coasts, but I felt confident we might see something nice to shoot. I was up after sunrise and was delighted to see a perfect clear sky with ice on the van windscreen, could this finally be the day to get good light? I was excited and didn't feel the cold at all as Rhua and I hit the road. This time I did head up Glenshane Pass and parked at the Ponderosa where I met Colleen Webb, we would spend many hours here.
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I was literally pulling into the car park when I saw a nice snow shower blowing across a landscape of beautiful sunlit snow, this was what I had been looking for, it really is amazing what a little sunshine can do. I got the drone up for images then flew out recording video, no better feeling than fresh morning snow. My goodness it was cold here, I was feeling it immediately on my fingers which made controlling the sticks difficult, I just put up with the discomfort and kept flying, I was loving every minute of this.
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By late morning another cluster of snow cells moved into view from the NW and these looked quite convective and beefy. Sunlit snow, white polar convection and clean blue skies, it took three days but I finally got it.
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One of my favourite scenes from the last three days of chasing. Looking along Glenshane Pass with Benbradagh in the distance.
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While in the area I flipped the drone camera down for a bird's eye view of Glenshane Forest covered in snow. Colleen and I were glad we got the drones in the air during this period because soon after the sky turned overcast again for hours and we lost the blue skies.
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Heavy snow showers blew across the Pass and a period of shooting traffic in snow ensued, this was great fun standing outside getting battered by wind driven snow flakes. By early afternoon we were tempted to call it a day and head home as it looked like the light had gone, then radar confirmed thundersnow to the N of us over Coleraine, that was interesting. On an instinct we decided to change location for one last flight of the day, I chose the wind turbines between Swatragh and Garvagh. This location was better positioned for seeing the cells passing through and you never know, maybe the turbines would help generate lightning.
Colleen and I where back on the road, descended Glenshane, passed through Maghera, into Swatragh, then took the steep back road up to the turbines. This quickly became a very interesting drive, what a transition from the village to this high ground, the roads turned from back to covered in white with dips and hills and bends, road crews had signs up partially blocking the road so we had to evade these while getting around the obstructions all the while trying to stay on the snow covered road without sliding off into the verge while also trying to keep up sufficient speed and momentum to make it up the hills, it felt like the Dukes Of Hazard meets The Day After Tomorrow.
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We finally made it to the top and got rewarded with blue skies and isolated snow showers passing through. This was a turkey shoot, flying over turbines tracking snow curtains, exactly what I wanted. This was less than one hour before sunset, below us the road was slippery, snow compacted over ice, no wonder the drive up had been interesting. A nasty cold breeze was blowing which chilled us to the core, exposed fingers were painful, flying was a challenge, I took full advantage of cruise control on the Mavic 3 to give my fingers a break.
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It's important to keep calm when flying past wind turbines, the big rotating blades can look intimating on the FPV screen, you always think the drone is going to get knocked out off the sky, however visual line of sight always lets you know you are not as close as you think.
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Nice snow curtains
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Nigel arrived and the three of us enjoyed the last half hour of light before sunset. We were shocked to see this huge anvil come into view, it looked very far away and yet the cell was clearly massive in size, it looked like a big thundersnow storm developing, radar confirmed it was over Donegal on the N side of Lough Foyle with a row of red cores along the leading edge. It's difficult to do justice to it here but visually it was an impressive sight, especially viewing it in the sky at the end of a snow covered mountain road which seemed to lead toward the cell.
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A new snow shower rapidly formed ahead of the Donegal anvil and became very photogenic and perhaps the best scene we had experienced over the last three days. Warm light from the lowering sun cast the snow core into a gorgeous yellow-orange colour, the drone was back in the air flying straight towards it making a course between rotating wind turbines.
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The wind was very strong combined with the shower's outflow, the gimbal flipped down twice on me, I had never ever experienced that before using the Mavic 3 and I have flown in 30mph winds before. I didn't chance cruise control here despite painful cold fingers. Flying between turbines demands 100% concentration and superb situational awareness which isn't always easy to do in a nasty wind chill.
Looking through the wide angle FOV you get a very different perspective compared to the naked eye. Judging distances between the drone and the turbines in front is difficult, even worse is not knowing how close the turbines are at your blind side to the left, right, and behind, it takes a lot of nerve. Hovering then spinning the drone around to check rear and sides periodically was the only way to keep my mind at ease.
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A lovely scene
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The drone battery was getting low but I stayed in the air as long as possible for images, at least I would have the wind at my back on the way home, for November I reckon these kind of scenes are pretty decent.
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Sunset snow blowing across the turbines and towards the drone, I turned around and flew back just in time. We watched the sun lower behind a hill then decided to make our way back, all three cars well separated, driving slowly and in a higher gear than usual, it may not look like much snow in these aerial images but the roads were very well covered and not salted in these parts.
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As we were driving down a steep hill I looked to my right and saw a gorgeous sight, that anvil that was over Donegal had now moved over the turbines covering a vast region of sky and full of mammatus and all lit vivid orange by the last light of the sun, I wanted to pull over and shoot it but driving safely was the main priority so I just enjoyed the moment visually, we couldn't have asked for a better end to a great day. Heavy snow showers continued all evening, some very heavy and the following day was yet another snow day but this time I gave it a miss and kept the camera in the van and just went for a walk in it, the mountains looked amazing in the distance. Cloud and a rise in temperatures would move in later resulting in a massive change.
On the night of November 14th/15th a deep low pressure system arrived from the Atlantic bringing hours of crazy rainfall during the night, it sounded like the windows were being blasted at 4am that night. The wind done structure damage, blew down trees, there was even a blizzard on high ground which later turned back to rain then daylight brought with it major flooding. A combination of intense rainfall and snow melt all at once, Donegal was impacted hard, inland all the main rivers were the highest anyone had seen in years and many had burst their banks filling acres of fields with water, it was quite a notable event. Colleen Webb gave me a heads up about the Moyola River between Maghera and Tobermore saying it was massive so I headed out for a look.
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It was, in fact, it was a significant flood, perhaps the best for many years, maybe even close to 2008 which was the worst flood I've ever seen here. Keep in mind that the banks of this river have since been widened out compared to the original in 2008 yet still the water was big, so worth factoring this in. The normal river would be located between those rows of parallel trees.
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The water was close to the lip of the upper arches and this was around noon or 13.00, I wonder what it had been like at sunrise, higher again? if you are local to the area you will know how big this water is, it was only a week or two earlier when I was standing directly under the middle arch far below on a gravel bed and the water was so low and placid I could have walked through it and maybe got wet socks at times, that's how low it was, Rhua was walking through it and it didn't even reach her belly. Now it would kill you, amazing how quickly things can change and how the weather can have a dramatic effect on people's lives.
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Drone crop into the left arch. This had turned out to be a very interesting period of dramatic photogenic weather, we had four days in a row of high ground snow, isolated thunderstorms and thundersnow events, then a damaging wind storm with the worst flooding in years, all in five days. This is more like the kind of weather I was used to experiencing years ago, constantly changing, dynamic, surprise after surprise.
Footage from day one and day two in the Sperrins concentrating on Moneyneany, Eagle Rock and Slieve Gallion areas.
Day three of photogenic Glenshane Pass snow and blue skies then wind turbine sunset snow curtains. This pattern sure made up for those three weeks of cloud and mizzle. I wonder will this be the only Winter weather we get before the end of December or will we get a re-load. Models indicate a mild Atlantic driven first two weeks of December with wind and rain and generally unsettled conditions, long range hints at settling down and turning colder for the second part of the month, we will just have to wait and see what nature does. Thanks very much for reading.
Martin McKenna
